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Coat Types

Hello again everyone!

First I would like to thank everyone who has helped me out so far in getting connected with good and responsible breeders. I am well on my way to picking the one I want my pup from! I think it will be a while before I actually get a pup though, I had no idea this could be such a long process (but I am so willing to wait).

Anyways, I have noticed that some Cavaliers have thicker and wavier coats than others. Some of the breeders I have chatted with told me that Black and Tans, and Tri Colors tend to have the longest and thickest coats, and on top of that spaying and neutering also develops a thicker and even more curly coat, AND males more often have thicker coats than the females.

This disappoints me, because my top 2 favorite colors are the B&T and Tris, and I was hoping to find a Cav who's lineage does not have such profuse coats. I would rather the top of the dog's back have pretty short hair, then nice feathering all below rather than thick all the way around :'(

Has anyone else found this to be true?

Because of coat type, I am considering a Blenheim as my #1 choice. I just wish for a Tri or B&T because I LOVE those little eye brows!

My tri has the most gorgeous coat of all four of my dogs. It is the silkiest and just what you want - shorter on the back but with beautiful feathering and a gorgeous tail. (But you can't have him!!!) He is almost all black with just a barely visible blaze and just the slightest necklace of white on the back of his neck. I believe his coat is called a blanket coat. My ruby has the thickest coat of my four. She is just a bear all around - thick, thick, thick. My blenheim has a nice coat and an unbelievably beautiful tail. He is also shorter on the back, but he doesn't have as nice feathering as my tri. Riley, my black and tan, has SM and her coat has really suffered due to her daily prednisone. I think their coats might depend more on the parents, but don't know for sure.

My tri has the most gorgeous coat of all four of my dogs. It is the silkiest and just what you want - shorter on the back but with beautiful feathering and a gorgeous tail. (But you can't have him!!!) He is almost all black with just a barely visible blaze and just the slightest necklace of white on the back of his neck. I believe his coat is called a blanket coat. My ruby has the thickest coat of my four. She is just a bear all around - thick, thick, thick. My blenheim has a nice coat and an unbelievably beautiful tail. He is also shorter on the back, but he doesn't have as nice feathering as my tri. Riley, my black and tan, has SM and her coat has really suffered due to her daily prednisone. I think their coats might depend more on the parents, but don't know for sure.

You are right, your tri sounds exactly like what I want!!! Do you know what lines are in his pedigree and at least who his parents are? I would like to take a look

i will PM you with his parents lines - but he does have a heart murmur that was diagnosed at 4 months of age. I know the breeder is not breeding his mom and dad anymore due to that. He also had an incident of Episodic Falling Syndrome at age 4 months, which led to the diagnosis of the heart murmur. But he is a little sweetheart and the most loving and gorgeous of my four. He's also the most rambunctious and even at almost 3 years old, is still a pistol.

I used to worry about getting a pup with a long coat but now it doesn't bother me at all.Basically if you start the moment you get your new pup and put the work into maintenence,you can manage any coat.You will need to invest in the right combs/brushes/products but your breeder can advise and help with that.
I love the Chris Christensen products,I have the moisturising shampoo,white on white and the ice on ice which is a leave in conditioner and finishing spray.We have an 8 month old pup with a longer coat than my three year old and touch wood we haven't seen a matt or a tangle yet,especially with the ears.
I have seen a few B&Ts which caused me to gasp at the coat(Dougal are you there?)....check out hairiest cavalier thread!!
My mum's tricolour had the full coat almost down to the ground and all she trimmed for ages were his slippers until he had a misunderstanding at the groomers and came back shaved down....
You can of course have a good groomer do some light trimming if things get too hairy,they do tend to pick up a lot of debris in the coat,but if your heart is set on a tricolor or a B&T,don't let the extra maintenence deter you.
Sins

Black hair does tend to make the fullest coat but I have seen huge variations. Some of the hairiest dogs I know are blenheims -- but my tri has just the coat you are talking about, quite short and smooth on the back and long feathering but not great heaviness at all. I think the fuller coats are the more beautiful, though. Incidentally my B&T's fuller coat is MUCH easier to maintain than my finer-haired blenheim or heavier coated blenheim -- both matt far more.

If you have found a good one, I would go for a great breeder as vastly more important than length of coat, which will come down to the roll of the genetic dice anyway -- you can get a lot of coat variation in a single litter. As Sins says, good coat care makes a lot of difference -- regular brushing, using a good no-tangle conditioner, etc.

My experience is that the finer hair actually mats more. Lucy, my Blenheim has a fine textured coat...almost like human hair. But, it's kind of wild...long all over her body rather than just the feathering. She mats much more than Charlie Brown who is a ruby and has the exact coat you are talking about...thicker texture than Lucy's but short on the back and long feathers on his legs and chest. I have to say that if you are really worried about the matting, just have them bathed/brushed out by a groomer every couple of months and they should be fine. I am not the best about brushing the dogs daily and sometimes Lucy's coat particularly starts looking like a ratty old sweater...that's when I send her off to the groomer for beautification. To me it is worth the money because I don't have the time to spend grooming/bathing her regularly. But, even if you did it yourself I don't think it would be too much of a hassle. When I have bathed the dogs myself they are really not that much work. Just make sure you brush out the mats BEFORE you get the dog wet (learned that the hard way once with a persian cat) and use a good cream rinse.

One thing I noticed this weekend (while spending 10 hours in the pouring rain at an agility trial) is that my blenhein very soon looked like a poor drowned rat and took forever to warm up and dry off, whereas the tri and the black and tan with their thicker coats barely looked wet at all and did not shiver or take long to dry. The rain just seemed to slick right off their coats.